


Force of Nature

by niqaeli



Category: Sanctuary - Fandom
Genre: Gen, science geekery, vampire nikola tesla!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-13
Updated: 2011-04-13
Packaged: 2017-10-18 01:14:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niqaeli/pseuds/niqaeli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh, not this.  Will, define the laws of physics for me, and then we'll discuss breaking them," Helen says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Force of Nature

**Author's Note:**

> This is all [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/jmtorres/profile)[**jmtorres**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/jmtorres/) 's fault. I attempted to unstupid the genetics in Sanctuary re: Abnormality.
> 
> This could slot into a longer story (don't hold your breath on that, children) and probably would be better for it, but it fairly well stands on its own if you know the source. AND I WROTE SOMETHING. And feel okay posting it. So here we are.
> 
> Rated baking soda jelly beans.

" _Magic_?" Will just about shrieks, looking absolutely betrayed. "You're saying that Abnormality is the ability to use _magic?!_ "

"Oh god, Magnus, you told him?" Nikola says, sticking his head in from his lab, because what Helen really needed for this conversation is his... unique input. "Why would you tell him? It never goes well."

"I didn't tell him," Helen says, with a sigh. "It came up while we speaking with an Abnormal who follows pagan traditions. Listen, Will, what does the terminology really matter? You see things that have been declared impossible by most modern minds daily. We have a mermaid, whom you insist on calling Sally. We have hosted the Morrigan, declared in their own time to be witches. We have carnivorous tribbles, werecreatures, a thousand different beings that exhibit remarkable traits, and even myself and Nikola. What difference does it make if call it magic or call it Abnormality?"

"But, magic! You're saying Abnormals are, are breaking the laws of physics!"

"Oh, not this. Will, define the laws of physics for me, and then we'll discuss breaking them," Helen says.

"What?"

"I'm quite serious. Define them for me. Do you mean the mathematical representations that we have written to model and explain the physical world around us? Or do you mean the natural forces that actually govern the physical world? The former are broken all the time due to inadequate data and poor understanding of what data we have; anytime they are proven to be insufficiently accurate, they must be rewritten. The latter, of course, cannot be broken."

"But what you're saying is magic is real."

"Oh for god's sake, would you have listened to her if she'd said, 'Hello, I have a fantastic menagerie of magical animals; welcome to Hogwarts, Harry!'? No, I don't think so," Nikola snaps.

"N-no, but someone could have maybe said something, oh, ever. It's been well over a year since I started working here!"

Helen is contemplating a drink. Alcohol has only marginally more effect on her than Nikola, but it's very tempting right about now. "Honestly, Will, it isn't something I deliberately kept from you. We changed the terminology a very long time ago, and your reaction illustrates precisely why."

"Honestly, it's a pity," Nikola says. "Physicists would have a much less difficult time reconciling the physics of the macro and the quantum if they had even a basic understanding of magic. Scientists! You'd think more of them would subscribe to the scientific method."

Helen pinches her nose and sighs, because, that's just going to drag this out further. And so: "You're saying magic is a _natural_ force," Will says.

"What else would it be?" Helen asks. "Because, honestly, we have creatures that have been tapping it for, well, as long as there has been life as far as we can tell."

"So it's, what, on a par with gravity?"

"Oh don't start on about gravity," Nikola says, muffled as he peers inside whatever it is he's working on. "It defies even my attempts to unify it; it's so bizarrely weak! Unless you want to call it a mass delusion, and then it's perfectly explicable I suppose."

"A mass delusion that... the suns and stars of other galaxies around the universe share?" Will asks, boggled.

"Why not? Stupider things have been true in science before."

Helen sighs. "Nikola, we've talked about this. If it is, in fact, a mass delusion, do you really want to go around drawing attention to this fact?"

"If it is, every single creature -- human, animal, and Abnormal -- on this planet refusing to believe in gravity _might_ disrupt Terra's orbit but very little else. There's just not enough of us compared to everything else in the solar system, much less the universe."

"I think that would be a sufficiently unhappy outcome, from the point of view of the inhabitants of this planet!" Helen says.

"Well, yes, but it's not like I plan to publish. Besides, it's probably not even true."

Will blinks, but at least he's not frothing about magic anymore.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but I actually do have work to attend to. And I imagine that you do too," she says pointedly.

And once she's managed to shake Nikola as well as Will, she gets herself that damn drink.


End file.
